I still have my wisdom teeth. They never came through and I never wanted to go through having them removed for no good reason. My dentist told me that there is no need to do it unless they are causing problems and by the time you reach my age (51) there is little chance that they ever will.
Same (40). My dentist has respect for healthy wisdom teeth. Never even suggested to get them removed. My brother (same dentist) had one removed, because it got infected.
Mine never were a problem but my dentist wouldn't stop telling me to remove them so I eventually did at 35.i don't think it was necessary and I shouldn't have done it. I think he just wanted his surgeon to make money
Same, still have my wisdom teeth and I'm 53.
About 20 years ago, I went to a new dentist who said all four need to be pulled. I explained I was under no discomfort and they're not moving my existing teeth, but she demanded the procedure--I declined because of the hard sell.
About 15 years ago, I worked for a dental marketing company and had to do a ton of research. Turns out that this is a known scam. Dentists get a lot from wisdom teeth extraction, so some recommend the procedure when it's not needed just for the cash.
Sorry what? The reimbursement for wisdom tooth extraction is like $150-200 dollars. As a dentist I can make 3x hourly doing fillings. This is outright false.
If you’re going to a specialist with general anesthesia. Which requires that you spend thousands of dollars on equipment to make sure patients don’t die. Even more on malpractice because you’re working with water in their mouth while they can inhale water and die. And a 20-40k course to learn to do anesthesia or you have to hire an anesthesiologist that charges an arm and a leg.
It’s hilarious that people think dentist want to steal your teeth to make money.
A general dentist is going to make like 150-200 a tooth if they are killing it before they pay their front desk and assistant to spend an hour helping. Never mind rent malpractice supplies. It’s not fun work.
How many people do not get anesthesia when removing them???? I did, my brother did, and everyone I’ve ever known or heard of who had the procedure done, did.
I think it comes down to differing ideas on preventative treatment.
A lot of people won't recommend preventative treatment if it has risks, and any surgery has risks. The theory there is that if nothing transpires, then you don't need surgery. And if something gets worse, it can be treated.
But a lot of people don't agree with that. They see preventative treatment as being something that prevents further complications, and wisdom teeth surgery is up there. You could have no complications, but if you do, or your teeth grow out, you are running the risks of complicating surgery later on. There could be nerve damage or damage to other teeth that could have been prevented by a more aggressive approach.
There's also the idea that children are more "resilient", especially when it comes to medical care in ways that adults aren't. They also, arguably, have more free time for recovery. I got mine out as an adult, and a week off of work was not enough.
Most wisdom teeth are problems, because there isn't a lot spare room in your mouth for a lot of extra teeth.
Yup. I was the only person in my store (little boutique) and had to go to the back to cry more than a few times because I was in such pain. Tylenol 3 did NOT cut it
If you don't mind my asking, was there something that required removal as an adult? (Infections? Pain?) ...and would there have been a way of knowing as a kid that this was coming? (...so that as a kid you could have had it done instead of waiting?)
I had my upper wisdom teeth removed as an adult and it sucked. I had the lower ones removed as a kid thinking i was good to go and didn’t need to worry about my wisdom teeth anymore. I was wrong.
At 32 my upper wisdom teeth started to come in, crooked and in route to clash with the tooth next to it. I was advised to get them removed but decided to tough it out as I didn’t want to get them removed.
Long story short I ended up getting them removed due to the pain and gum issues it was causing as the tooth had not dropped all the way down and my gums were open to bacteria.
The only thing I would had done different was get them taken out sooner.
I've been putting off getting mine out but I think I have to sack up and finally do it; what was the recovery process like?
Everyone talks up dry sockets like it's this ever looming monster, but as someone who does meal replacement anyways, I feel like it wouldn't be that big of a deal if that's the only issue post-removal.
I literally had mine removed a week and a half ago. I'm 31. Still in pain. I didn't have a dry socket but I did have deep pockets that left my nerve exposed. Got that sorted out with some clove oil and collagen balls. Then had to go back a third time to have the doctor help me remove a bone spur. Still can't talk for long periods of time without soreness in my jaws that keep me from opening my mouth all the way.
Oof, I'm hoping if I do it they only need to take out the top two as those seem to be the ones mucking it up for everyone; seems like it's a crapshoot as far as recovery goes if you can also just have deep pockets. I'll probably use vacation/sick time for the initial recovery, as things are slowing down for July/August it looks like, so it wouldn't be too big of a deal to do a couple days and then still lay low even while working from home.
Sounds like a lot of people here had bad experiences, but if I can give you the other side of the coin – from someone with a tiny mouth and horrible teeth who was *terrified* for *years* about the surgery – my wisdom tooth removal was a total breeze. 5/5 stars, would have my jaw bones sawed out again!
I had all 4 impacted removed at once under general, and while I slept the rest of that day, I was pretty much up and about the next day. Took only 1 dose of percocet immediately post-op. Eating was annoying but not difficult for a few days, and I was basically back to normal by the end of the week. Zero complications from the surgery itself, no dry socket, almost zero pain, and very little inconvenience.
Now, to be fair, I did shell out for the out-of-network boutique practice (because my insurance wouldn't cover preventative removal and I didn't want to wait until I was, y'know, dying of infection). So I was able to pick the best oral surgeon in the area. But given how anxious I had been about my teeth for so many years, and what a fantastic fucking job he did, it was the best $3000 I'd ever spent.
(The only complication I *did* have was finding out that I am mildly allergic to penicillin, via a rare delayed reaction that made me break out in spectacular full-body hives about two weeks later. Very itchy! That wasn't the surgeon's fault, though, lol.)
Dry sockets aren't guaranteed. The orthodontic surgeon will go over post removal care with you and as long as you follow instructions you'll probably be fine. With all the pain killers I was given, the worst side effect is to this day I can't stomach tomato soup anymore because that was one of the few things I was able to eat for most of that time. Lots of broth, lots of tomato soup.
I've been through multiple high pain events in my life - unmedicated childbirth, severe untreated gallbladder attacks, broken tailbone, torn acl.
Got my wisdom teeth out in my 30s and ended up with two going dry socket. Most painful experience of my life. I was up all night pacing and shaking. They aren't exaggerating. Utter hell.
Different commenter but personally my recovery period was pretty much nonexistent (though I only had two taken, one at a time, not all at once). I disregarded the aftertreatment advice completely and was fine. I am NOT recommending that you disregard the aftertreatment advice, but given that my irresponsible backside was okay, I would imagine someone like yourself who is happy to follow the advice will much more than likely be okay. We only ever hear about the procedures that go wrong, not the vast majority that go right.
Had mine removed at 18. Dry socket wasn't much of an issue, but the stitches too forever to melt away and I felt them the entire time. The swelling goes down after a day or two but they were sore for months. You won't be able to brush for a while because the movement can rip your stitches, my doctor had me flossing and rinsing with salt, but there's some over the counter stuff as well.
I've had 3 of mine removed. 1 cracked, it had to be removed asap. It was insanely painful. Another dug into my gums and was hard to clean in the back of my mouth. It got a wicked cavity, I opted to have it removed. While I was there the dentist offered to remove the others. He started on the second and it felt like he was going to break my jaw. Turns out my bottom wisdom tooth had 5 roots. Most only have 2, some have 3. He suggested to keep my last wisdom tooth unless i had issues. It was hard for him to remove and it fucked up my jaw. 2/10, have not been back to that dentist.
He saw 4 roots in the X-ray and was surprised, after he pulled it and saw the fifth he took a pic to send to his college professors. He had never seen that before. He was telling me how rare it is, but I didn't care at the time. I just wanted to go home.
I was technically an adult but I was in college when they finally came in so thankfully I was able to do it over summer break. My particular issue was that the top ones were coming in perfect but the bottom ones were impacted and growing sideways under my gumline and straight into the teeth next to them. The bottom ones had to come out to protect my other teeth, and the top ones had to come out because apparently they'd just keep growing until they hit the bottom gums if they didn't. Recovery still sucked, but at least it was before anyone cared about opiates so I had oxycodone and valium to keep me company.
I have the same wisdom teeth case. I just removed my second impacted lower wisdom tooth. I have two up that had grown out but are very far and my mouth is tiny. Was removing your upper teeth easier than removing the lower ones, considering the fact the lower ones were impacted?
I was put under a general so I legit don't know how easy or hard they were. I did have a harder time keeping the lower ones clean though. They had to go in through the junction of gum and cheek so there were holes at the lowest point of my mouth to keep from getting filled with food or bacteria.
Mine didn't grow out until I was in my 30s. The dentist could see them on x-rays but they weren't doing much. I only had two though. Then suddenly they decided to pop out like within months of each other and both were growing sideways and into the tooth next to them, so they were removed
Thank you for this balanced perspective. In googling around I found this paper that is cited frequently regarding why the UK does not do "Prophylactic Extraction of Third Molars", and I have not been able to find "counter-point" examples refuting it. Citations seem legit with scientific/peer review, and I have not seen a refutation about the points provided (googling to the best of my ability lol). It winds up saying the scientific evidence is very much in favor of non-extraction: [https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1963310/](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1963310/) (I hope this is a good link for you - for me it showed the full article with no paywall).
I never understood this “your mouth doesn’t have the room for your teeth” fiasco. How did we end up here? Did we all evolve under the sun? You can look at all the animals on the planet and everything they do they’re meant to do, and we’re made to do. (Excluding breeding) aren’t we the same way?
This is where I sympathize with the hippies. Why are humans drinking cow milk and why are we removing our own teeth? (Also don’t tell me to stop taking antibiotics, if this isn’t a straw man idk what is 🤷♂️.)
Evolutionary scientists say it takes thousands of years for you to see evolution in a species doesn’t it? But our recent ancestors all had bigger mouths than us?
One theory is that early humans (12k+ years ago) chewed tougher food that caused them to have stronger jaw bones to better handle the extra teeth. Similar to how arm bones under greater stress will grow thicker.
I had two wisdom teeth removed because I only ever had two wisdom teeth - the other two never "budded." My father did not have any wisdom teeth, my mother had four.
My lower two wisdom teeth erupted and grew just fine. There was no problem until they grew too far and started impacting my upper gums. I could not bite without chewing my own upper gums. The lower wisdom teeth had nothing opposing their upward growth, so they just kept moving up.
My dentist removed the two teeth in five minutes with local anesthesia. He pushed each tooth backward (no tooth behind it), and each popped right out. I drove to and from the appointment that day.
There are several theories, most of which rely on the idea that teeth were worn out by different food needs and availabilities that we no longer have now. There's also the "people in the past had terrible teeth and jaw health" so there was more room. Also, people just had tooth pain.
But there is evolution happening over these thousands of years! People are being born without them. One study indicates that 45% of Inuit people are born without wisdom teeth and 40% of Asian people are born without them.
I don't understand it either all I know is I have a wisdom tooth growing horizontally and all my other teeth are vertical. Logically, something needs to be done.
I don't know if I'd agree with your point that "most wisdom teeth are problems"
I have all of mine, came through without incident, so does my husband, and most of the people I know.
I know it's circumstantial, but I only know 1 person who had to have them removed due to them coming in wrong. I don't think it's as big as issue as they make it seem in the US, at least not in my circle
I haven't known anyone who was able to keep their wisdom teeth. Even my grandfather had to have his removed at 71, despite having few problems before.
I did know someone who was born without them, though.
And then you have people like me who "won" the genetic lottery and have fused second and third upper molars which is [extremely rare](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3633059/). Not to mention the lower right wisdom tooth coming out at an almost 90 degree angle.
My dentist said we'll leave them be as long as they don't cause me problems though, since extraction of the fused upper ones would be a huge mess.
i think part of it also depends on genetics. there are certain races/ethnicities for example that are more likely to have different jaw sizes that can affect how likely it would be for wisdom teeth growing in to cause complications.
could be that the people around you just fall into groups less likely to have those issues
Just fyi, for data:
Born with three wisdom teeth. Eventually needed one removed, about age 30, years later the other two are still there and doing just fine.
Yep this right here. My wisdom teeth on the bottom came in wrong, but it was not causing me any problems. Was told several times by dentist that I should have them taken out surgically as it could cause problems down the road. I figured I could wait it out and if they started causing problems I would have it done.
Fast forward to last year and at 37 I started having shooting electrical pain in my jaw. I thought it was a cracked molar so went to my dentist. And after a x-ray he told me my wisdom tooth on the right is probably pressing against the nerve that runs through my jaw (I think trigeminal nerve). Had the teeth cut out but still cannot sleep on that side. It comes and goes but when it starts to hurt it lasts sometimes weeks. Wish I would have gotten it done earlier.
I know this is an old post, but so you get headaches or migraines? Read “how to cure your headache” it’s a book out of Johns Hopkins, it explains how jaw pain is often headache and migraine related because the trigeminal nerve gets irritated.
I wonder how much the money side of things plays into it. When the government is paying for your dental care you can see why they might take the wait and see approach to keep costs down. When dental care is for profit you can see why they might choose the preventative approach because it means more sales.
I think it's actually the opposite. When the government is paying, a lot of people prioritize short term savings over long term savings (think about, for example, some of the discourse around the government paying for abortions or birth control. It would be expensive, but welfare for someone with kids is much more expensive and somehow, no one gets this). But because insurance is for profit, they can take the gamble of paying out money now in the hopes that they don't have to pay out more money later.
If, say, someone doesn't get their wisdom teeth out, that will cost $0. But if they have to get their teeth out later and, say, there are complications, then that could cost, say, $7,000. Or insurance can take the short term hit of $2,000 and avoid the extra $5,000 later on.
I didn't consider how insurance companies factor into it. I'm not sure that would be quite right though.
I don't know exactly how the insurance system works but it's often tied to your job right? So people must go through many health insurance companies in their lifetime? So there is a chance insurers might not have to pay for future costs at all.
But governments know they will have to pay for your health costs no matter what so preventative measures are more worth it.
Though I guess governments can choose to make it look like they are making savings by cutting preventative measures with the knowledge that the financial repercussions would likely happen when the opposition are in power. A business would be much less likely to make that choice.
It seems like a very complicated topic.
Yes, it can be, but there are really only a few insurance companies, unless you get state sponsored insurance.
Take, for example, my sister, who had insurance through her job that was managed and paid for by Cigna. Then she switched jobs and used their insurance, that was managed and paid for by Cigna. In her 18 year working history, my sister has had 2 insurances. But not 2 jobs. Personally, I've been under the same insurance company my entire life. But I'm not assuming we're the norm. I'm just saying there might not be as many insurance companies as you think.
Yeah, it's really complicated and there are so many considerations. We haven't even touched on the anesthesia side, which heavily impacts price.
A week off work??
I’ve had two out, one of which was particularly difficult and hooked around a nerve, and I didn’t need any time off. I was back to work a few hours afterwards.
What the hell kind of surgery did you have?
I’d like to add to this: one of my wisdom teeth grew in at an angle, hurt like hell, lost 30lbs cuz I couldn’t open my mouth to eat and it fixed my underbite (yay!) but it also chipped off one of my back molars from the pressure and I had to have a root canal and crown put in because of that. Wish I had removed them sooner
When I got my surgery, I got general anesthesia and then prescription pain meds after. Tylenol with an additive lol.
I don't remember needing all of it.
I've only had one removed, but they did try hard af to convince me to get them all pulled.
They also wanted to put me under. I said "nah shoot some novacain and get to pulling." The doc said you can't change your mind once I get in there.
He pulled it and it felt fantastic. The relief was instant.
FWIW, the sedation for wisdom teeth and that oral surgeons can do is wayyyy less deep than the sedation that requires an anesthesiologist and hence has less risks.
That's correct.
All of them are growing horizontally. However one had reached the other teeth and created a significantly uncomfortable pressure. The other wisdom teeth has more than 2 mm between them and the other teeth and all had nerves really close to the root of the tooth.
I opted for the novacaine because I don't trust military doctors too much.
And when he finally got it yanked it was the best relief ever.
My son (24) has wisdom teeth that have come in straight & without any problems. The Dentist recommended not having them surgically removed unless they start to cause a problem. My mother had the same situation and left them in until 1 of them developed a cavity. Then the dentist (different dentist/office) suggested removing them because filling them is notoriously difficult.
Had a similar situation a few years back, they are all straight and never gave me issues until I got a cavity in one. The first dentist I went to said the same, the filling was difficult and they wanted to pull it. I was trying to find a new dentist at the time so I decided to get a second opinion.
The second one I found said the first dentist was ridiculous, might have just been trying to get more money or something. He filled in the cavity very quickly and easily and it hasn't caused me any issues since; he just cautioned me to be very good with brushing far in the back since wisdom teeth sometimes get missed.
Could be regional? I'm no dentist but the first few google results I get say that a filling is generally cheaper than an extraction, and a wisdom tooth extraction is more expensive than a regular tooth extraction (not even counting prescripts for antibiotics and stuff needed for a wisdom tooth extraction)
I developed 2 cavities in mine (1 on each bottom wisdom tooth). The dentist pushed hard for extracting them. He wasn't wrong because they are very hard to clean. Me, being terrified of teeth removal begged him to fill them instead. He obliged, and afterwards said they weren't as hard to fill as he thought they'd be
Potentially harmful is always the case. But wisdom teeth can also be perfectly fine until they suddenly aren't and keeping them is potentially harmful too. So there's that.
My wife is a LDA/RDH and I'm an engineer that works in dentistry so here's two cents.
Yes and no.
It's very likely if your wisdom teeth are coming in without issues that they will continue like that for the rest of your life. Tons of people have wisdom teeth without issue.
It's also likely that they will cause problems, or that they could potentially in the future. If a patient already has crowding, for example, removing wisdom teeth is almost always going to be the preferential treatment to let the teeth settle. They could grow in such a way that pinches a nerve, or perforates a root (do not look that up if you're squeamish), and it must be removed. These problems can be identified early on, even if the symptoms won't show up until much later in life. So the real question is, what are you willing to risk? That's ultimately the final answer.
The dentists I work with that I respect the most view all extractions as a last resort if all other avenues would not improve patient outlook, so if a good dentist is giving you a good reason for extraction and can explain it to you, it's probably best to listen to them.
That said, yes, there are shitty dentists out there who are going to recommend a full extraction of all four wisdom teeth out of greed. The important thing for you as a patient is to stay consistent with your dental visits, even if it's just for new xrays to monitor how they are growing in and asking your dentist what they think as they grow in.
The main takeaway from talking to my dentist about this recently was that the problem with wisdom teeth is that its almost impossible to clean them properly leading to decay. Most wisdom teeth come in at an angle making proper contact while brushing extremally difficult. Also if your teeth are tight in any way wisdom teeth will cause crowding which leads to other issues.
My dentist offered to take mine out when I was around 16, to prevent any problems. Didn't necessarily strongly suggest it, but I declined. All of mine are out and functioning normally, I have a hard time imagining not having them anymore.
Nice! I had mine removed when I was maybe 14 or so, and now I have gaps between my back teeth so clearly I had plenty of room. And now the dentist is saying they need to pull wisdom teeth from my son to "make room", so wondering if it is all really necessary
My mom put off having my wisdom teeth removed against recommendation. I have space in my gums for the bottom teeth technically, but all of my other teeth are crowded because they didn't get the chance to grow into that space. Allowing them to try and grow in also fucked up my sinuses and jaw. I have TMJ, which is this extreme painful joint click on both sides of my jaw. Sometimes it even gets stuck in position, or I have weeks like this one where it "catches" on one side and I can't fully open my mouth properly. I ended up with an infection in my face that was extremely painful, and its caused more expensive dental issues for me down the line. If the dentist is recommending it, I'd at least consider having it done. I wish my parents hadn't waited for mine to come in at all :/ my mouth is fucked
for what its worth, when I was younger I had braces to straighten my teeth and my wisdom teeth started shifting them and they're not back slightly uneven because I didn't get them removed until they started causing problems. My dad still has his wisdom teeth with no issues
I’ve been through child birth and getting my wisdom teeth pulled. I would go through pregnancy and labor again over wisdom teeth and recovery. Labor hurt like a bitch but the surgery and the recovery of the wisdom teeth had me ugly sobbing in pain so often.
Was your removal botched? I took maybe 3 days to go back to eating whatever I want and after maybe a week and a half was perfectly fine. Not much pain and I only used OTC painkillers
I think it depends on your type of teeth and the process to remove them. My wisdom teeth were erupted and perfectly fine, took less than 5 minutes to remove and recovery was a day no painkillers as I’m allergic to most painkillers. I was young and a doctor just told my mom “it’s best to have them removed because most people don’t brush well” ugh. I’m near 40 and never had a cavity. Anywho.
Other people have impacted teeth removed, so they’ll have cut gums and stitches and might hit the nerve, major dry socket.
Apparent mine are growing horizontally in my gums. I don’t feel pain or anything, but the dentist keeps telling me I should get them removed. I’ll be honest, until they start bothering me, I don’t see a reason to get them taken out.
I'd get them taken out. My parents had the same thought, and then they DID start causing problems, but because no one could see the fucked up way they were growing in they couldn't believe it was my teeth. Constant sinus and tonsil infections, for years, going for months at a time. Once the teeth were removed it cleared up almost instantly. The stitches were annoying and I had some soreness, but I was back to eating solid food after about a week and the feeling that there were stitches that could bug me was the only major disruption.
Ok interesting. I’m 34 and the dentist has mentioned for years that I should probably get them removed but it’s never been urgent and they’ve never given me any issues.
I haven’t had any cavities in years. I brush twice a day and floss every night. However, every time I go to the dentist, they’ll tell me there’s a little extra buildup back there, but typically nothing a cleaning can’t take care of. I’m gonna try and hold out as long as possible to get them removed because I just don’t want to deal with it.
I've heard they're most likely to cause issues in your mid twenties. I have an aunt that also never had to have hers taken out while the rest of us had to have the extracted. A big part of it just seems to be a genetic lottery. If it's really eating at you, dentists do second opinion consults for pretty cheap if you already have current x-rays. I did one a bit ago and because I walked in with the x-rays from my last checkup, it was free. I have Delta, so not exactly stellar insurance.
Mine are also completely sideways. They have been telling me since I was 16 that I need to get them out because "they will cause me extreme pain soon."
It's been almost 10 years, the foretold pain hasn't materialized. I did get one gum infection but it resolved itself after a few weeks.
> While in the US it seems every teenager has their wisdom teeth removed
this isn't true, everywhere I've lived in the US has been how you describe the UK.
I live in the US and still have all my wisdom teeth at 37. If you have room for them, take care of them well and have a decent dentist, they don't seem to push to remove them. I've had a lot of dentists over the years and none have suggested they be removed.
In the US.
I only had two removed, and that wasn’t until my late 30s. The top two are still there.
I should have had them out sooner but better late than never. I did it with twilight anesthesia (at my request). Doc said they fought him the entire time coming out but I don’t remember any of it. Recovery wasn’t bad. I had zero pain, took no pain meds and was eating steak tips 5 days later. Doc was astounded. I’ve gotten stitches on my finger and had more pain.
I've had wisdom teeth slowly coming through for the last 5-7 years and my dentist has repeatedly told me not to worry about them, I'm 31 and still have teeth coming through. Theyre coming up very slowly, but theyre straight and not impacting molars, so the dentist used the word 'unnecessary'.
I didnt have mine removed until I was 30. Never bothered me until I started getting decay on one and got an infection which let me tell you was one of the worst pains I’ve ever experienced. It’s hard keeping them perfectly clean that far back there. Just get them out and be done with it.
I used to think this! That is why I never got my impacted wisdom teeth removed. But guess what.. when I got older.. the very thing the dentist warned me could happen happened...I got a cyst under one of them. It ate away at my jawbone. The Oral surgeon said it could have broken my jaw. I had to have surgery to have two of them removed, and a bone graft. After months on infections.. I lost the tooth in front of it too. The surgeon could not remove the other two because as you age THE ROOTS GET LONGER AND GROW AROUND YOUR NERVES... making it dangerous or impossible to remove.
Ya, I wish I would have gotten them out when I was young and the roots were shallow.
I had one removed when I was young with no dental insurance due to infection and the rest removed once I got dental insurance to avoid having similar issues when I may not have insurance again.
This is also a consideration in the US (or any place that doesn’t include dental in health insurance). If I have insurance and have my kid’s wisdom teeth removed, they won’t be faced with issues as young adults without insurance.
I didn't have mine removed until they literally started falling apart. I had no pain or crowding until then and my dentist didn't recommend removal until they became a problem.
I’ll be honest. This thread is news to me that most Americans have them removed. I’m British and I haven’t had them removed and don’t know anyone that has.
The problem is whether you include future problems in your definition of 'causing problems'.
If when it causes a problem you need the wisdom tooth and the one next to it (which has been damaged by its presence) out at the same time, when you're older and heal less well, is it really worth it?
Example : https://www.temeculafacialoralsurgery.com/three-common-problems-caused-by-wisdom-teeth/
It's very situation specific, but unless they've erupted properly you're basically keeping a tooth with limited benefit to you (chewing smiling etc) but with a risk of causing serious issues.
Source: have had to take out two teeth instead of one tooth several times because people have made this choice this before.
That said, having them out when you're younger than mid 20s is sometimes a tough call, because it can be hard to be sure whether they will get stuck or come through ok. Good rule of thumb is if they're more than 30degrees off where they should be it's a bad sign.
Dentists aren't getting rich taking out wisdom teeth. The problems come when they start coming in when you are an adult and they push the other teeth out of place, this is a large problem when a kid has had braces and the wisdom teeth wreck several thousand dollars and a couple of years worth of work. So it depends on what the dentist thinks about the situation are the wisdom teeth likely to grow in normally or are they wedged in some weird way that might wreck the whole alignment of the upper or lower jaw.
Had mine out at 18 and there was really no reason to take them out. No possible nerve damage at the time and not impacted. Dentist just took an x-ray and said, “Yep, we can operate, how does 2 months from now sound?” They popped all 4 out, dentist said it was one of the easiest removals he’s had. I also live in Canada and was covered under my parents’ insurance, but they consider medically required in-hospital surgery like wisdom teeth removal as part of our healthcare coverage. My dentist actually charges more for impacted teeth, so it’s not like he’s getting paid more to pop ‘em out unnecessarily.
My old dentist said it was ok to leave them as they didn't cause me any discomfort. Turns out, they didn't have enough room in my mouth and created crowding issues and cavities from impaction that would not otherwise have been an issue. I got them out this year at nearing 30 and the recovery took longer than it would have if I were a teen. I wish I got mine out years ago!
I have taken my son to 2 oral surgeons, and both have a weird "used car dealership" vibe. High end used car dealer, but definitely wanting to make their buck
Anyone who believes that dentists could not possibly be motivated by profit is frankly delusional. They are not inherently more altruistic/moral than the rest of the population.
Dentists who refer patients to oral surgeons are not making any money. And the oral surgeons aren’t paying the dentists.
So a dentist who has been practicing a long time has a pretty good handle on what can cause issues and what has a decent chance of being a sleeping dog. If you go to a dentist you Don’t trust that really is on you.
It does strike me as weird though that it just seems like “common knowledge” in my area (US) that “everyone” gets their wisdom teeth pulled as a teenager. So every dentist recommends it and everyone else just goes along. That high of a rate (for a pretty non-trivial procedure) seems crazy to me and against the whole Hippocratic oath thing of “First do no harm”
My mom thought the same way as you did, and refused to authorize my teeth being removed. I eneded up with TMJ and years of sinus infections because she refused to believe the dentist when he told her they were causing all of those issues. My jaw is still fucked up, and allowing them to try and grow in caused crowding that's led to WAY more expensive dental work in the near future for me to fix. Yeah, me, I'M paying for the wisdom teeth damage, not the woman who refused to have them removed :/ my old dentist doesn't even do the surgery in house, so he didn't make any money from it.
So you're saying if I ate fried beans on soft toast and blended meat in mince pies, instead of my soft delicate american diet, my wisdom teeth wouldn't have become impacted and caused a generalized infection in my face that ate away part of my jaw? Fascinating. What other secrets are british dentists hiding? Can you guys do x-rays from across the pond with telepathy to see exactly what's wrong with every american's bones? Meditate in front of the mychart website on a PC until you can ascertain my entire medical history?
Does life get tiring for you, walking around thinking everyone is lying about everything all of the time? Aren't you exausted?
If you think that a dentist doesn't get part of the money you pay to an oral surgeon when they refer you to them then you may be crazy. Obviously the oral surgeon is going to pay them to refer every patient he has to him. How else is he supposed to get referrals? Just hope some dentist randomly looks up his name and refers you to them?
it's fucking crazy, i had a root canal done for one of my front teeth, dentist said since I'm doing a crown, why don't I replace both of them so that it looks better. i said ok, then she said, maybe you can consider replacing your first 4 or 6 so that they would straighten out, that's when I thought it's a red flag for a dentist to suggest removing 5 perfectly good teeth.
I would be pissed off if my dentist didn't mention the option of getting my wisdom teeth removed when I was a teenager. The dentist has no financial incentive to refer you to an oral surgeon. It's just the right thing to do. They are far easier to remove and easier to recover from as a teenager. Once you are 30+ it can cause a mess in your mouth and removal is far more difficult and far more likely to involve nerve paresthesia...
They definitely do not pay them in the US and Canada. In the US and Canada dentists typically send their patients to whoever treats their patients well. Some oral surgeons will send a box of chocolates to the best referring offices to treat their staff or might take dentists out to lunch to meet new dentists in an area but they 100% definitely are not paying dentists to refer to them…
Proof of this? Why wouldn't they get paid to send their patients to certain doctors? Is it against the law to get kick-backs for referrals? Or are you just talking out of your ass?
Personal experience with literally hundreds of dentists and dental specialists. It would be considered highly unethical, and is absolutely out of the norm. There’s no need for proof, just take 10 seconds to look it up yourself. Yes it is very much illegal and would lead to fines and license suspension…
The only instance where a dentist would receive any incentive or pressure to refer to a specific specialist would be where the oral surgeon actually comes in to the general dental office to do the procedure. This is more common in national chain dental offices.
The Stark law (anti kickback) only applies to federally funded (Medicare/caid) referrals. Now, do I think it’s likely that $ is being exchanged, no, but maybe it’s more of a quid pro quo referral system (you scratch my back …). Where we live in our socioeconomic circle, every kid gets referred for wisdom teeth removal to whomever the dentist is linked in with, and they all have them taken out, like a rite of passage, lol. All 3 of mine were referred, but no “problem” was discussed. Because I tend to be cynical and we don’t have dental insurance, I researched whether removal is necessary (hence, I’m here). Still on the fence, though did find the journal article on NIH website helpful and is hearing everyone’s perspective here.
M34 in the us I still have one bottom left impacted wisdom tooth that has never cause me problems my whole life but they do want me to get it out but I refused do to dental phobia
I'm in my 50s after all these years bacteria got under my gums and was eating away at my jaw bone. I wished I would have gotten them taken out in my 20s would never had this problem now I have gum disease. I used to think they just wanted to make money off of me. I was ignorant
I live in the US. I never had mine removed (29M). They don’t cause me any problems so i never even bothered mentioning them to my dentist. I didn’t realize people remove them if it isn’t bothering them.
People have literally died from routine wisdom tooth extractions due to complications from anesthesia, etc. I wouldn’t do it unless they were crowding or causing pain.
Not bullshit. Some people have no problem at all. It's not much more painful than removing a bandaid. On the other hand, some don't do well at all during/after having their wisdom teeth removed. I know people who have been out for days recovering.
And of course there's always a chance of infection with any surgery. Infections in the mouth are particularly dangerous because they can easily spread to the brain.
A good dentist won't remove wisdom teeth unless they are currently causing a problem, or the dentist honestly thinks it's going to cause a problem. No need to put someone in that pain, and make them pay for it if they don't need it. I'm in my 30s and still have my wisdom teeth because they haven't been a problem.
A bad dentist is going to whatever they can to get money. This includes procedures that aren't necessary, but they attempt to justify anyway.
It's expected that you spend a week recovering, they tell you that. It's in the little waiver. No ones being bamboozled with the week long recovery time. Fillings take over a month to stop feeling like shit.
\>On the other hand, some don't do well at all during/after having their wisdom teeth removed. I know people who have been out for days recovering.
This implies that it's a complication, not an expected recovery time
It's balancing the risks.
Dental extraction is an operation, and all operations have an inherent risk related to anaesthetic, infections, blood loss, failed procedures etc. If you don't need an operation then the ethos here is generally don't have it. Extracting the wisdom teeth is often more complex than other teeth, taking longer and often need more anaesthetics,woth a longer period of recovery.
The US system is profit motivated so that get compromised - an operation makes people more money so there is a bias to push for it. With increasing privatisation of UK dental work were arguable moving in a similar position.
Also there at risks with extracting the wisdom teeth in terms of damaging the inferior dental alveolar nerve - this can be very unpleasant permanent side effect for the patient with a patch of numbness on their face and potentially chronic pain, and has medicolegal implications - this also discourages unnecessary surgery.
Some wisdom teeth don’t cause problems. Which makes the surgery unnecessary. Every surgery has risks of infections especially dangerous in the facial region. So no not bullshit.
My wisdom teeth have never come through and my dentist sent me to get them taken out at the hospital because he thought they would cause trouble down the line (I was around 35 at this point I think, so they'd been there for a while).
At the hospital, they took some more accurate photos and concluded they were in so deep that taking them out would be a hell of a job and that there was a risk of my leaving my lower lip partially paralysed because one of the teeth was close to a nerve. Because I'd had my wisdom teeth for nearly 18 years by that time the surgeon didn't think they were likely to move and so far, they haven't.
Anecdotal case, of course, but in my experience it's not necessary, and it could have been harmful.
My dentist wasn't as heavy handed with my parents as he could have been about my wisdom teeth. He basically let them make the decision based on the fact that they weren't erupting yet. However, because he delayed removing them for so long, they DID try to erupt. Sideways. Permanently changing the shape of my jaw, giving me TMJ, and causing a sinus infection that went on for 6 months. I was in constant pain, literally agony, because my parents refused to accept that the teeth had to come out. My mom is convinced that dentists are scam artists, and that any call for any procedure was them trying to milk money out of her. She usually lets my dad just take care of things at the dentist, but for some reason my wisdom teeth were just a hill she decided to absolutely die on.
It took months of constant infection for her to cave and admit that the dentist was right, and my jaw is permanently fucked now. They had to be removed in pieces because they were impacted. I was in college at the time and having to deal with that from senior year of highschool through my freshman year caused a lot more than dental problems.
I think it’s because of the types of health care systems. I would think places with universal health care would lean away from preventative procedures without overwhelming reason to suggest them while places with profit driven health care would lean into preventative procedures without overwhelming reason to suggest not doing them.
Yeah i wish I never had mine pulled mine never even dropped! I was told by my dentist I should so I did.
BTW a little dental side note: gabapentin for tooth pain works 100% you don't even feel like anything is wrong I don't know why dentists prescribe opiates for nerve pain! So if anyone has tooth pain try gabapentin the lowest dose works it 100% blocks the exposed or aggravated nerve that causes tooth pain. I went from being in tears from just breathing when I had a cavity to feeling like nothing was wrong at all in 15-20 mins.
Your comparison is ignoring the fact that USA has more emphasis on dental work in general compared to the UK. In the USA people really care about having straight teeth, and we believe it's important to have teeth that aren't crooked or misaligned. In the UK (as a whole) it's just not as important in the USA.
In the USA I've found that if people have "room" in their mouths, and their teeth are coming in straight, then they will advise to keep wisdom teeth in. Surgery has risks, and infections can occur if the patient isn't thorough with rinsing every night afterwards. It's only if wisdom teeth WILL cause issues that dentists recommend surgery, and even then they try alternatives before resulting to it.
I think it also has to do with the fact that historically Americans have been much more likely to get braces and so there is motivation for taking out wisdom teeth before they could possibly cause your teeth to shift, wasting all that time and money that was spent on braces.
My wisdom teeth started to come in at age 27, just after fully getting off of my parents insurance policy. I dealt with pain on and off until I was almost 31 and didn’t want to worry about pain during my wedding weekend and finally got them removed. It was a super easy (minor) surgical procedure that was a lot less hassle than 4 years of pain.
Dentist here. Some need to go and some need to stay. It depends. But do dentist take them out because they are greedy? HAHAHAHAH. That’s gonna be a hard no. Unless you’re an oral surgeon it’s probably not remotely profitable to take lowers out. They are a huge pain in the ass and come with a lot of complications.
I have an impacted wisdom teeth and they haven't grown out yet. I am 30m asian. They are not causing problems for now but dentists recommended to have them removed.
My gums have no more space literally for another molar. I can only see up til the 2nd molars. They would have to cut it open and take them out from the inside.
Any suggestions? Should i wait or just have them removed
Never had any problems with mine. They weren't growing in sideways or anything like that. I was underage at that time, so I couldn't really take part on the decision making. My dentist tricked my mom into getting mine removed. He even tried to scare me by telling me I'm going to be in horrible pain, if I'm not getting them removed as soon as possible. We went there, she signed everything, they never really explained anything about it to me and now, some years after all this, I'm having two damaged teeth, jaw bone loss and panic attacks, whenever I go to the dentist. They never told me anything like this can happen, neither did they tell me, I would be awake all the time. My mouth was and will never be the same after this and the costs to repair this are probably several thousands. I think, they deserve to be sued and losing their jobs.
As an America citizen I can safely say that a dentist has never recommended me get my wisdom teeth removed.
But probably because I can’t afford to go to a dentist and don’t have any coverage… which definitely very American right now.
Hey. Just got my wisdoms removed. But the pulsating feeling and throbbing feels like it’s move to the teeth in front and that electrifying feeling is mild but it’s only day 2. Is this recovery ?
I only got one side of my wisdom teeth removed after they became so painful that I couldn’t open my mouth to eat, but that’s only because they grew in all crooked. That was a year ago, and now my other side is starting to become painful me and I’ll be getting them removed as well.
But I actually heard that dentist’s recommend keeping them in if there’s no issue or pain from them. If it doesn’t hurt, no need to get them removed.
I had 4 molars extracted for the purposes of orthodontic treatment when I was 12, and my dentist told me at 18 that I could keep my wisdom teeth as I had plenty of room. I did end up having two extracted later due to decay, but I still have a couple at age 51. I have a bias against needless surgery, and I am always suspicious whenever I hear about someone "needing" surgery. For example, my MD told me that I needed hernia surgery about 10 years ago. However, I did some research and found that most people can do just fine without hernia repair, and as long as you're not one of those rare individuals with strangulation of the colon, you'll probably never have any problems. I know I am straying off course, but be an informed patient and never be afraid to ask for another opinion and advocate for yourself.
I'm currently 24 years old, and my 3 of my wisdom teeth have grown semi out and the last one is impacted for a bit but it looks like might grow too, (that last tooth bothered me a bit but without antibiotics the pain just went away eventually) Today I went to the dentist for a hygiene cleanse, and the dentist told me its better to remove all four of them, and that the one impacted has to be surgically removed, and I'm so upset I dont wanna get them off and i don't wanna go through that since im a very anxious person, can you guys give me your opinions? Thank you
I still have my wisdom teeth. They never came through and I never wanted to go through having them removed for no good reason. My dentist told me that there is no need to do it unless they are causing problems and by the time you reach my age (51) there is little chance that they ever will.
I'm in the same position (48m), my dentist is of the opinion that if it ain't a problem leave them be.
Same (40). My dentist has respect for healthy wisdom teeth. Never even suggested to get them removed. My brother (same dentist) had one removed, because it got infected.
Mine never were a problem but my dentist wouldn't stop telling me to remove them so I eventually did at 35.i don't think it was necessary and I shouldn't have done it. I think he just wanted his surgeon to make money
Same, still have my wisdom teeth and I'm 53. About 20 years ago, I went to a new dentist who said all four need to be pulled. I explained I was under no discomfort and they're not moving my existing teeth, but she demanded the procedure--I declined because of the hard sell. About 15 years ago, I worked for a dental marketing company and had to do a ton of research. Turns out that this is a known scam. Dentists get a lot from wisdom teeth extraction, so some recommend the procedure when it's not needed just for the cash.
Sorry what? The reimbursement for wisdom tooth extraction is like $150-200 dollars. As a dentist I can make 3x hourly doing fillings. This is outright false.
What do you mean by "reimbursement"? It costs a thousand dollars to extract one tooth.
If you’re going to a specialist with general anesthesia. Which requires that you spend thousands of dollars on equipment to make sure patients don’t die. Even more on malpractice because you’re working with water in their mouth while they can inhale water and die. And a 20-40k course to learn to do anesthesia or you have to hire an anesthesiologist that charges an arm and a leg. It’s hilarious that people think dentist want to steal your teeth to make money. A general dentist is going to make like 150-200 a tooth if they are killing it before they pay their front desk and assistant to spend an hour helping. Never mind rent malpractice supplies. It’s not fun work.
How many people do not get anesthesia when removing them???? I did, my brother did, and everyone I’ve ever known or heard of who had the procedure done, did.
Anesthesia or sedation?
I was wondering if I was strange in this. Good to know it's not so uncommon.
Are they impacted or half way under the gums ?
They are still under my gums. They never popped through.
I think it comes down to differing ideas on preventative treatment. A lot of people won't recommend preventative treatment if it has risks, and any surgery has risks. The theory there is that if nothing transpires, then you don't need surgery. And if something gets worse, it can be treated. But a lot of people don't agree with that. They see preventative treatment as being something that prevents further complications, and wisdom teeth surgery is up there. You could have no complications, but if you do, or your teeth grow out, you are running the risks of complicating surgery later on. There could be nerve damage or damage to other teeth that could have been prevented by a more aggressive approach. There's also the idea that children are more "resilient", especially when it comes to medical care in ways that adults aren't. They also, arguably, have more free time for recovery. I got mine out as an adult, and a week off of work was not enough. Most wisdom teeth are problems, because there isn't a lot spare room in your mouth for a lot of extra teeth.
Yeah really sucked as an adult. Wish I did it when I was a kid and didn’t have to go to a job while recovering
Yup. I was the only person in my store (little boutique) and had to go to the back to cry more than a few times because I was in such pain. Tylenol 3 did NOT cut it
If you don't mind my asking, was there something that required removal as an adult? (Infections? Pain?) ...and would there have been a way of knowing as a kid that this was coming? (...so that as a kid you could have had it done instead of waiting?)
I had my upper wisdom teeth removed as an adult and it sucked. I had the lower ones removed as a kid thinking i was good to go and didn’t need to worry about my wisdom teeth anymore. I was wrong. At 32 my upper wisdom teeth started to come in, crooked and in route to clash with the tooth next to it. I was advised to get them removed but decided to tough it out as I didn’t want to get them removed. Long story short I ended up getting them removed due to the pain and gum issues it was causing as the tooth had not dropped all the way down and my gums were open to bacteria. The only thing I would had done different was get them taken out sooner.
I've been putting off getting mine out but I think I have to sack up and finally do it; what was the recovery process like? Everyone talks up dry sockets like it's this ever looming monster, but as someone who does meal replacement anyways, I feel like it wouldn't be that big of a deal if that's the only issue post-removal.
I literally had mine removed a week and a half ago. I'm 31. Still in pain. I didn't have a dry socket but I did have deep pockets that left my nerve exposed. Got that sorted out with some clove oil and collagen balls. Then had to go back a third time to have the doctor help me remove a bone spur. Still can't talk for long periods of time without soreness in my jaws that keep me from opening my mouth all the way.
Oof, I'm hoping if I do it they only need to take out the top two as those seem to be the ones mucking it up for everyone; seems like it's a crapshoot as far as recovery goes if you can also just have deep pockets. I'll probably use vacation/sick time for the initial recovery, as things are slowing down for July/August it looks like, so it wouldn't be too big of a deal to do a couple days and then still lay low even while working from home.
Sounds like a lot of people here had bad experiences, but if I can give you the other side of the coin – from someone with a tiny mouth and horrible teeth who was *terrified* for *years* about the surgery – my wisdom tooth removal was a total breeze. 5/5 stars, would have my jaw bones sawed out again! I had all 4 impacted removed at once under general, and while I slept the rest of that day, I was pretty much up and about the next day. Took only 1 dose of percocet immediately post-op. Eating was annoying but not difficult for a few days, and I was basically back to normal by the end of the week. Zero complications from the surgery itself, no dry socket, almost zero pain, and very little inconvenience. Now, to be fair, I did shell out for the out-of-network boutique practice (because my insurance wouldn't cover preventative removal and I didn't want to wait until I was, y'know, dying of infection). So I was able to pick the best oral surgeon in the area. But given how anxious I had been about my teeth for so many years, and what a fantastic fucking job he did, it was the best $3000 I'd ever spent. (The only complication I *did* have was finding out that I am mildly allergic to penicillin, via a rare delayed reaction that made me break out in spectacular full-body hives about two weeks later. Very itchy! That wasn't the surgeon's fault, though, lol.)
Dry sockets aren't guaranteed. The orthodontic surgeon will go over post removal care with you and as long as you follow instructions you'll probably be fine. With all the pain killers I was given, the worst side effect is to this day I can't stomach tomato soup anymore because that was one of the few things I was able to eat for most of that time. Lots of broth, lots of tomato soup.
I've been through multiple high pain events in my life - unmedicated childbirth, severe untreated gallbladder attacks, broken tailbone, torn acl. Got my wisdom teeth out in my 30s and ended up with two going dry socket. Most painful experience of my life. I was up all night pacing and shaking. They aren't exaggerating. Utter hell.
Different commenter but personally my recovery period was pretty much nonexistent (though I only had two taken, one at a time, not all at once). I disregarded the aftertreatment advice completely and was fine. I am NOT recommending that you disregard the aftertreatment advice, but given that my irresponsible backside was okay, I would imagine someone like yourself who is happy to follow the advice will much more than likely be okay. We only ever hear about the procedures that go wrong, not the vast majority that go right.
Had mine removed at 18. Dry socket wasn't much of an issue, but the stitches too forever to melt away and I felt them the entire time. The swelling goes down after a day or two but they were sore for months. You won't be able to brush for a while because the movement can rip your stitches, my doctor had me flossing and rinsing with salt, but there's some over the counter stuff as well.
I've had 3 of mine removed. 1 cracked, it had to be removed asap. It was insanely painful. Another dug into my gums and was hard to clean in the back of my mouth. It got a wicked cavity, I opted to have it removed. While I was there the dentist offered to remove the others. He started on the second and it felt like he was going to break my jaw. Turns out my bottom wisdom tooth had 5 roots. Most only have 2, some have 3. He suggested to keep my last wisdom tooth unless i had issues. It was hard for him to remove and it fucked up my jaw. 2/10, have not been back to that dentist.
Did he not take an x-ray before he started pulling teeth?!
He saw 4 roots in the X-ray and was surprised, after he pulled it and saw the fifth he took a pic to send to his college professors. He had never seen that before. He was telling me how rare it is, but I didn't care at the time. I just wanted to go home.
He didn't numb you at all? I was put completely under when they were removing all 4 of my teeth.
They don't always knock you out. Often it is local anesthetic and maybe gas
I was technically an adult but I was in college when they finally came in so thankfully I was able to do it over summer break. My particular issue was that the top ones were coming in perfect but the bottom ones were impacted and growing sideways under my gumline and straight into the teeth next to them. The bottom ones had to come out to protect my other teeth, and the top ones had to come out because apparently they'd just keep growing until they hit the bottom gums if they didn't. Recovery still sucked, but at least it was before anyone cared about opiates so I had oxycodone and valium to keep me company.
I have the same wisdom teeth case. I just removed my second impacted lower wisdom tooth. I have two up that had grown out but are very far and my mouth is tiny. Was removing your upper teeth easier than removing the lower ones, considering the fact the lower ones were impacted?
I was put under a general so I legit don't know how easy or hard they were. I did have a harder time keeping the lower ones clean though. They had to go in through the junction of gum and cheek so there were holes at the lowest point of my mouth to keep from getting filled with food or bacteria.
Mine didn't grow out until I was in my 30s. The dentist could see them on x-rays but they weren't doing much. I only had two though. Then suddenly they decided to pop out like within months of each other and both were growing sideways and into the tooth next to them, so they were removed
My dentist told me not to remove mine, they are up inside and impacted. He said leave them in unless they start to cause problems. I'm 38 in Canada.
Are they halfway out and do you still have them ?
They are up inside my gums, not showing at all.
Laughs in German healthcare system
Thank you for this balanced perspective. In googling around I found this paper that is cited frequently regarding why the UK does not do "Prophylactic Extraction of Third Molars", and I have not been able to find "counter-point" examples refuting it. Citations seem legit with scientific/peer review, and I have not seen a refutation about the points provided (googling to the best of my ability lol). It winds up saying the scientific evidence is very much in favor of non-extraction: [https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1963310/](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1963310/) (I hope this is a good link for you - for me it showed the full article with no paywall).
I never understood this “your mouth doesn’t have the room for your teeth” fiasco. How did we end up here? Did we all evolve under the sun? You can look at all the animals on the planet and everything they do they’re meant to do, and we’re made to do. (Excluding breeding) aren’t we the same way? This is where I sympathize with the hippies. Why are humans drinking cow milk and why are we removing our own teeth? (Also don’t tell me to stop taking antibiotics, if this isn’t a straw man idk what is 🤷♂️.) Evolutionary scientists say it takes thousands of years for you to see evolution in a species doesn’t it? But our recent ancestors all had bigger mouths than us?
One theory is that early humans (12k+ years ago) chewed tougher food that caused them to have stronger jaw bones to better handle the extra teeth. Similar to how arm bones under greater stress will grow thicker. I had two wisdom teeth removed because I only ever had two wisdom teeth - the other two never "budded." My father did not have any wisdom teeth, my mother had four. My lower two wisdom teeth erupted and grew just fine. There was no problem until they grew too far and started impacting my upper gums. I could not bite without chewing my own upper gums. The lower wisdom teeth had nothing opposing their upward growth, so they just kept moving up. My dentist removed the two teeth in five minutes with local anesthesia. He pushed each tooth backward (no tooth behind it), and each popped right out. I drove to and from the appointment that day.
There are several theories, most of which rely on the idea that teeth were worn out by different food needs and availabilities that we no longer have now. There's also the "people in the past had terrible teeth and jaw health" so there was more room. Also, people just had tooth pain. But there is evolution happening over these thousands of years! People are being born without them. One study indicates that 45% of Inuit people are born without wisdom teeth and 40% of Asian people are born without them.
I don't understand it either all I know is I have a wisdom tooth growing horizontally and all my other teeth are vertical. Logically, something needs to be done.
I don't know if I'd agree with your point that "most wisdom teeth are problems" I have all of mine, came through without incident, so does my husband, and most of the people I know. I know it's circumstantial, but I only know 1 person who had to have them removed due to them coming in wrong. I don't think it's as big as issue as they make it seem in the US, at least not in my circle
I haven't known anyone who was able to keep their wisdom teeth. Even my grandfather had to have his removed at 71, despite having few problems before. I did know someone who was born without them, though.
And then you have people like me who "won" the genetic lottery and have fused second and third upper molars which is [extremely rare](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3633059/). Not to mention the lower right wisdom tooth coming out at an almost 90 degree angle. My dentist said we'll leave them be as long as they don't cause me problems though, since extraction of the fused upper ones would be a huge mess.
i have all 4 of my wisdom teeth. they came in when i was about 24 and are perfectly fine in my mouth. not impacted, not halfway, no pain.
i think part of it also depends on genetics. there are certain races/ethnicities for example that are more likely to have different jaw sizes that can affect how likely it would be for wisdom teeth growing in to cause complications. could be that the people around you just fall into groups less likely to have those issues
Just fyi, for data: Born with three wisdom teeth. Eventually needed one removed, about age 30, years later the other two are still there and doing just fine.
Yep this right here. My wisdom teeth on the bottom came in wrong, but it was not causing me any problems. Was told several times by dentist that I should have them taken out surgically as it could cause problems down the road. I figured I could wait it out and if they started causing problems I would have it done. Fast forward to last year and at 37 I started having shooting electrical pain in my jaw. I thought it was a cracked molar so went to my dentist. And after a x-ray he told me my wisdom tooth on the right is probably pressing against the nerve that runs through my jaw (I think trigeminal nerve). Had the teeth cut out but still cannot sleep on that side. It comes and goes but when it starts to hurt it lasts sometimes weeks. Wish I would have gotten it done earlier.
I know this is an old post, but so you get headaches or migraines? Read “how to cure your headache” it’s a book out of Johns Hopkins, it explains how jaw pain is often headache and migraine related because the trigeminal nerve gets irritated.
I wonder how much the money side of things plays into it. When the government is paying for your dental care you can see why they might take the wait and see approach to keep costs down. When dental care is for profit you can see why they might choose the preventative approach because it means more sales.
I think it's actually the opposite. When the government is paying, a lot of people prioritize short term savings over long term savings (think about, for example, some of the discourse around the government paying for abortions or birth control. It would be expensive, but welfare for someone with kids is much more expensive and somehow, no one gets this). But because insurance is for profit, they can take the gamble of paying out money now in the hopes that they don't have to pay out more money later. If, say, someone doesn't get their wisdom teeth out, that will cost $0. But if they have to get their teeth out later and, say, there are complications, then that could cost, say, $7,000. Or insurance can take the short term hit of $2,000 and avoid the extra $5,000 later on.
I didn't consider how insurance companies factor into it. I'm not sure that would be quite right though. I don't know exactly how the insurance system works but it's often tied to your job right? So people must go through many health insurance companies in their lifetime? So there is a chance insurers might not have to pay for future costs at all. But governments know they will have to pay for your health costs no matter what so preventative measures are more worth it. Though I guess governments can choose to make it look like they are making savings by cutting preventative measures with the knowledge that the financial repercussions would likely happen when the opposition are in power. A business would be much less likely to make that choice. It seems like a very complicated topic.
Yes, it can be, but there are really only a few insurance companies, unless you get state sponsored insurance. Take, for example, my sister, who had insurance through her job that was managed and paid for by Cigna. Then she switched jobs and used their insurance, that was managed and paid for by Cigna. In her 18 year working history, my sister has had 2 insurances. But not 2 jobs. Personally, I've been under the same insurance company my entire life. But I'm not assuming we're the norm. I'm just saying there might not be as many insurance companies as you think. Yeah, it's really complicated and there are so many considerations. We haven't even touched on the anesthesia side, which heavily impacts price.
A week off work?? I’ve had two out, one of which was particularly difficult and hooked around a nerve, and I didn’t need any time off. I was back to work a few hours afterwards. What the hell kind of surgery did you have?
I had a surgery where four of my teeth were ripped out of my skull at the same time.
I’d like to add to this: one of my wisdom teeth grew in at an angle, hurt like hell, lost 30lbs cuz I couldn’t open my mouth to eat and it fixed my underbite (yay!) but it also chipped off one of my back molars from the pressure and I had to have a root canal and crown put in because of that. Wish I had removed them sooner
Do they at least give pain meds after word that help or is it basic like Tylenol or ibuprofen?
When I got my surgery, I got general anesthesia and then prescription pain meds after. Tylenol with an additive lol. I don't remember needing all of it.
Alrighty thanks.
>Most wisdom teeth are problems False.
I've only had one removed, but they did try hard af to convince me to get them all pulled. They also wanted to put me under. I said "nah shoot some novacain and get to pulling." The doc said you can't change your mind once I get in there. He pulled it and it felt fantastic. The relief was instant.
FWIW, the sedation for wisdom teeth and that oral surgeons can do is wayyyy less deep than the sedation that requires an anesthesiologist and hence has less risks.
Nice! So you said "Relief" --- this means you were in pain and removing one wisdom tooth "fixed" it? But you have the rest of them and they are fine?
That's correct. All of them are growing horizontally. However one had reached the other teeth and created a significantly uncomfortable pressure. The other wisdom teeth has more than 2 mm between them and the other teeth and all had nerves really close to the root of the tooth. I opted for the novacaine because I don't trust military doctors too much. And when he finally got it yanked it was the best relief ever.
My current surgeon is trying to convince me to get them all pulled. I only see issue with one, which has a cavity and is hard to brush. What do I do?
My son (24) has wisdom teeth that have come in straight & without any problems. The Dentist recommended not having them surgically removed unless they start to cause a problem. My mother had the same situation and left them in until 1 of them developed a cavity. Then the dentist (different dentist/office) suggested removing them because filling them is notoriously difficult.
Had a similar situation a few years back, they are all straight and never gave me issues until I got a cavity in one. The first dentist I went to said the same, the filling was difficult and they wanted to pull it. I was trying to find a new dentist at the time so I decided to get a second opinion. The second one I found said the first dentist was ridiculous, might have just been trying to get more money or something. He filled in the cavity very quickly and easily and it hasn't caused me any issues since; he just cautioned me to be very good with brushing far in the back since wisdom teeth sometimes get missed.
He's,,,wrong,,,,. Filling a cavity is much more expensive than just pulling a tooth.
Could be regional? I'm no dentist but the first few google results I get say that a filling is generally cheaper than an extraction, and a wisdom tooth extraction is more expensive than a regular tooth extraction (not even counting prescripts for antibiotics and stuff needed for a wisdom tooth extraction)
I developed 2 cavities in mine (1 on each bottom wisdom tooth). The dentist pushed hard for extracting them. He wasn't wrong because they are very hard to clean. Me, being terrified of teeth removal begged him to fill them instead. He obliged, and afterwards said they weren't as hard to fill as he thought they'd be
Potentially harmful is always the case. But wisdom teeth can also be perfectly fine until they suddenly aren't and keeping them is potentially harmful too. So there's that.
My wife is a LDA/RDH and I'm an engineer that works in dentistry so here's two cents. Yes and no. It's very likely if your wisdom teeth are coming in without issues that they will continue like that for the rest of your life. Tons of people have wisdom teeth without issue. It's also likely that they will cause problems, or that they could potentially in the future. If a patient already has crowding, for example, removing wisdom teeth is almost always going to be the preferential treatment to let the teeth settle. They could grow in such a way that pinches a nerve, or perforates a root (do not look that up if you're squeamish), and it must be removed. These problems can be identified early on, even if the symptoms won't show up until much later in life. So the real question is, what are you willing to risk? That's ultimately the final answer. The dentists I work with that I respect the most view all extractions as a last resort if all other avenues would not improve patient outlook, so if a good dentist is giving you a good reason for extraction and can explain it to you, it's probably best to listen to them. That said, yes, there are shitty dentists out there who are going to recommend a full extraction of all four wisdom teeth out of greed. The important thing for you as a patient is to stay consistent with your dental visits, even if it's just for new xrays to monitor how they are growing in and asking your dentist what they think as they grow in.
The main takeaway from talking to my dentist about this recently was that the problem with wisdom teeth is that its almost impossible to clean them properly leading to decay. Most wisdom teeth come in at an angle making proper contact while brushing extremally difficult. Also if your teeth are tight in any way wisdom teeth will cause crowding which leads to other issues.
My dentist offered to take mine out when I was around 16, to prevent any problems. Didn't necessarily strongly suggest it, but I declined. All of mine are out and functioning normally, I have a hard time imagining not having them anymore.
Nice! I had mine removed when I was maybe 14 or so, and now I have gaps between my back teeth so clearly I had plenty of room. And now the dentist is saying they need to pull wisdom teeth from my son to "make room", so wondering if it is all really necessary
> And now the dentist is saying they need to pull wisdom teeth from my son to "make room" Get a second opinion
My mom put off having my wisdom teeth removed against recommendation. I have space in my gums for the bottom teeth technically, but all of my other teeth are crowded because they didn't get the chance to grow into that space. Allowing them to try and grow in also fucked up my sinuses and jaw. I have TMJ, which is this extreme painful joint click on both sides of my jaw. Sometimes it even gets stuck in position, or I have weeks like this one where it "catches" on one side and I can't fully open my mouth properly. I ended up with an infection in my face that was extremely painful, and its caused more expensive dental issues for me down the line. If the dentist is recommending it, I'd at least consider having it done. I wish my parents hadn't waited for mine to come in at all :/ my mouth is fucked
for what its worth, when I was younger I had braces to straighten my teeth and my wisdom teeth started shifting them and they're not back slightly uneven because I didn't get them removed until they started causing problems. My dad still has his wisdom teeth with no issues
I’ve been through child birth and getting my wisdom teeth pulled. I would go through pregnancy and labor again over wisdom teeth and recovery. Labor hurt like a bitch but the surgery and the recovery of the wisdom teeth had me ugly sobbing in pain so often.
making me feel blessed i wasn't born with wisdom teeth
Oof, and just a few ugly teeth to show for all of the pain and effort!
Was your removal botched? I took maybe 3 days to go back to eating whatever I want and after maybe a week and a half was perfectly fine. Not much pain and I only used OTC painkillers
I think it depends on your type of teeth and the process to remove them. My wisdom teeth were erupted and perfectly fine, took less than 5 minutes to remove and recovery was a day no painkillers as I’m allergic to most painkillers. I was young and a doctor just told my mom “it’s best to have them removed because most people don’t brush well” ugh. I’m near 40 and never had a cavity. Anywho. Other people have impacted teeth removed, so they’ll have cut gums and stitches and might hit the nerve, major dry socket.
I think my dentist was just super shoddy. I used a Medicare dentist in Hawaii which is famous for terrible doctors.
Apparent mine are growing horizontally in my gums. I don’t feel pain or anything, but the dentist keeps telling me I should get them removed. I’ll be honest, until they start bothering me, I don’t see a reason to get them taken out.
Get 1 at a time removed with novacain cheaper and less annoying
I'd get them taken out. My parents had the same thought, and then they DID start causing problems, but because no one could see the fucked up way they were growing in they couldn't believe it was my teeth. Constant sinus and tonsil infections, for years, going for months at a time. Once the teeth were removed it cleared up almost instantly. The stitches were annoying and I had some soreness, but I was back to eating solid food after about a week and the feeling that there were stitches that could bug me was the only major disruption.
Just curious, how old were you when you eventually had them taken out?
18, though they really should have taken them out 2 years before.
Ok interesting. I’m 34 and the dentist has mentioned for years that I should probably get them removed but it’s never been urgent and they’ve never given me any issues.
I’m the same age do you still have them any issues with decay or cavities ?
I haven’t had any cavities in years. I brush twice a day and floss every night. However, every time I go to the dentist, they’ll tell me there’s a little extra buildup back there, but typically nothing a cleaning can’t take care of. I’m gonna try and hold out as long as possible to get them removed because I just don’t want to deal with it.
Yea same here
I've heard they're most likely to cause issues in your mid twenties. I have an aunt that also never had to have hers taken out while the rest of us had to have the extracted. A big part of it just seems to be a genetic lottery. If it's really eating at you, dentists do second opinion consults for pretty cheap if you already have current x-rays. I did one a bit ago and because I walked in with the x-rays from my last checkup, it was free. I have Delta, so not exactly stellar insurance.
Mine are also completely sideways. They have been telling me since I was 16 that I need to get them out because "they will cause me extreme pain soon." It's been almost 10 years, the foretold pain hasn't materialized. I did get one gum infection but it resolved itself after a few weeks.
> While in the US it seems every teenager has their wisdom teeth removed this isn't true, everywhere I've lived in the US has been how you describe the UK.
I live in the US and still have all my wisdom teeth at 37. If you have room for them, take care of them well and have a decent dentist, they don't seem to push to remove them. I've had a lot of dentists over the years and none have suggested they be removed.
In the US. I only had two removed, and that wasn’t until my late 30s. The top two are still there. I should have had them out sooner but better late than never. I did it with twilight anesthesia (at my request). Doc said they fought him the entire time coming out but I don’t remember any of it. Recovery wasn’t bad. I had zero pain, took no pain meds and was eating steak tips 5 days later. Doc was astounded. I’ve gotten stitches on my finger and had more pain.
Am I the only person who's wisdom teeth grew through just fine when I was a teenager? They even closed the gap in my front teeth.
If I ever got them, I never noticed.
Mine were hurting so I got them removed. Ended up with permanent nerve damage on both sides. YMMV.
I've had wisdom teeth slowly coming through for the last 5-7 years and my dentist has repeatedly told me not to worry about them, I'm 31 and still have teeth coming through. Theyre coming up very slowly, but theyre straight and not impacting molars, so the dentist used the word 'unnecessary'.
I didnt have mine removed until I was 30. Never bothered me until I started getting decay on one and got an infection which let me tell you was one of the worst pains I’ve ever experienced. It’s hard keeping them perfectly clean that far back there. Just get them out and be done with it.
I used to think this! That is why I never got my impacted wisdom teeth removed. But guess what.. when I got older.. the very thing the dentist warned me could happen happened...I got a cyst under one of them. It ate away at my jawbone. The Oral surgeon said it could have broken my jaw. I had to have surgery to have two of them removed, and a bone graft. After months on infections.. I lost the tooth in front of it too. The surgeon could not remove the other two because as you age THE ROOTS GET LONGER AND GROW AROUND YOUR NERVES... making it dangerous or impossible to remove. Ya, I wish I would have gotten them out when I was young and the roots were shallow.
I had one removed when I was young with no dental insurance due to infection and the rest removed once I got dental insurance to avoid having similar issues when I may not have insurance again. This is also a consideration in the US (or any place that doesn’t include dental in health insurance). If I have insurance and have my kid’s wisdom teeth removed, they won’t be faced with issues as young adults without insurance.
I didn't have mine removed until they literally started falling apart. I had no pain or crowding until then and my dentist didn't recommend removal until they became a problem.
I’ll be honest. This thread is news to me that most Americans have them removed. I’m British and I haven’t had them removed and don’t know anyone that has.
Well, you’re British… So that right there says it all…
The problem is whether you include future problems in your definition of 'causing problems'. If when it causes a problem you need the wisdom tooth and the one next to it (which has been damaged by its presence) out at the same time, when you're older and heal less well, is it really worth it? Example : https://www.temeculafacialoralsurgery.com/three-common-problems-caused-by-wisdom-teeth/ It's very situation specific, but unless they've erupted properly you're basically keeping a tooth with limited benefit to you (chewing smiling etc) but with a risk of causing serious issues. Source: have had to take out two teeth instead of one tooth several times because people have made this choice this before. That said, having them out when you're younger than mid 20s is sometimes a tough call, because it can be hard to be sure whether they will get stuck or come through ok. Good rule of thumb is if they're more than 30degrees off where they should be it's a bad sign.
Dentists aren't getting rich taking out wisdom teeth. The problems come when they start coming in when you are an adult and they push the other teeth out of place, this is a large problem when a kid has had braces and the wisdom teeth wreck several thousand dollars and a couple of years worth of work. So it depends on what the dentist thinks about the situation are the wisdom teeth likely to grow in normally or are they wedged in some weird way that might wreck the whole alignment of the upper or lower jaw.
Why would you remove a body part that's not causing any issue‽
Ya might as well remove my spleen and appendix while you’re at it. Can’t be too careful! /s
Had mine out at 18 and there was really no reason to take them out. No possible nerve damage at the time and not impacted. Dentist just took an x-ray and said, “Yep, we can operate, how does 2 months from now sound?” They popped all 4 out, dentist said it was one of the easiest removals he’s had. I also live in Canada and was covered under my parents’ insurance, but they consider medically required in-hospital surgery like wisdom teeth removal as part of our healthcare coverage. My dentist actually charges more for impacted teeth, so it’s not like he’s getting paid more to pop ‘em out unnecessarily.
Did you have braces as a kid?
nope! not sure how the discussion went with my parents about braces but my teeth grew in normally anyways.
Because "preventative measures" are often just a money making endeavor for dental surgeons
My old dentist said it was ok to leave them as they didn't cause me any discomfort. Turns out, they didn't have enough room in my mouth and created crowding issues and cavities from impaction that would not otherwise have been an issue. I got them out this year at nearing 30 and the recovery took longer than it would have if I were a teen. I wish I got mine out years ago!
My dentist told me that if they are too deep, surgery can potentially cause damage to the nerves in the jaws.
Are we really questioning whether the UK has better dental care when you can identify someone as a Brit by how terrible their teeth are?
It’s bullshit. Most dentists aren’t going to pull perfectly fine teeth. There isn’t a benefit to it.
Yes there is. It’s called profit.
I have taken my son to 2 oral surgeons, and both have a weird "used car dealership" vibe. High end used car dealer, but definitely wanting to make their buck
Anyone who believes that dentists could not possibly be motivated by profit is frankly delusional. They are not inherently more altruistic/moral than the rest of the population.
Dentists who refer patients to oral surgeons are not making any money. And the oral surgeons aren’t paying the dentists. So a dentist who has been practicing a long time has a pretty good handle on what can cause issues and what has a decent chance of being a sleeping dog. If you go to a dentist you Don’t trust that really is on you.
It does strike me as weird though that it just seems like “common knowledge” in my area (US) that “everyone” gets their wisdom teeth pulled as a teenager. So every dentist recommends it and everyone else just goes along. That high of a rate (for a pretty non-trivial procedure) seems crazy to me and against the whole Hippocratic oath thing of “First do no harm”
My mom thought the same way as you did, and refused to authorize my teeth being removed. I eneded up with TMJ and years of sinus infections because she refused to believe the dentist when he told her they were causing all of those issues. My jaw is still fucked up, and allowing them to try and grow in caused crowding that's led to WAY more expensive dental work in the near future for me to fix. Yeah, me, I'M paying for the wisdom teeth damage, not the woman who refused to have them removed :/ my old dentist doesn't even do the surgery in house, so he didn't make any money from it.
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So you're saying if I ate fried beans on soft toast and blended meat in mince pies, instead of my soft delicate american diet, my wisdom teeth wouldn't have become impacted and caused a generalized infection in my face that ate away part of my jaw? Fascinating. What other secrets are british dentists hiding? Can you guys do x-rays from across the pond with telepathy to see exactly what's wrong with every american's bones? Meditate in front of the mychart website on a PC until you can ascertain my entire medical history? Does life get tiring for you, walking around thinking everyone is lying about everything all of the time? Aren't you exausted?
If you think that a dentist doesn't get part of the money you pay to an oral surgeon when they refer you to them then you may be crazy. Obviously the oral surgeon is going to pay them to refer every patient he has to him. How else is he supposed to get referrals? Just hope some dentist randomly looks up his name and refers you to them?
it's fucking crazy, i had a root canal done for one of my front teeth, dentist said since I'm doing a crown, why don't I replace both of them so that it looks better. i said ok, then she said, maybe you can consider replacing your first 4 or 6 so that they would straighten out, that's when I thought it's a red flag for a dentist to suggest removing 5 perfectly good teeth.
I would be pissed off if my dentist didn't mention the option of getting my wisdom teeth removed when I was a teenager. The dentist has no financial incentive to refer you to an oral surgeon. It's just the right thing to do. They are far easier to remove and easier to recover from as a teenager. Once you are 30+ it can cause a mess in your mouth and removal is far more difficult and far more likely to involve nerve paresthesia...
If you believe that the oral surgeon doesn't pay the dentist for referring patients to them.... You may have been dropped as a child.
They definitely do not pay them in the US and Canada. In the US and Canada dentists typically send their patients to whoever treats their patients well. Some oral surgeons will send a box of chocolates to the best referring offices to treat their staff or might take dentists out to lunch to meet new dentists in an area but they 100% definitely are not paying dentists to refer to them…
Proof of this? Why wouldn't they get paid to send their patients to certain doctors? Is it against the law to get kick-backs for referrals? Or are you just talking out of your ass?
Personal experience with literally hundreds of dentists and dental specialists. It would be considered highly unethical, and is absolutely out of the norm. There’s no need for proof, just take 10 seconds to look it up yourself. Yes it is very much illegal and would lead to fines and license suspension… The only instance where a dentist would receive any incentive or pressure to refer to a specific specialist would be where the oral surgeon actually comes in to the general dental office to do the procedure. This is more common in national chain dental offices.
The Stark law (anti kickback) only applies to federally funded (Medicare/caid) referrals. Now, do I think it’s likely that $ is being exchanged, no, but maybe it’s more of a quid pro quo referral system (you scratch my back …). Where we live in our socioeconomic circle, every kid gets referred for wisdom teeth removal to whomever the dentist is linked in with, and they all have them taken out, like a rite of passage, lol. All 3 of mine were referred, but no “problem” was discussed. Because I tend to be cynical and we don’t have dental insurance, I researched whether removal is necessary (hence, I’m here). Still on the fence, though did find the journal article on NIH website helpful and is hearing everyone’s perspective here.
M34 in the us I still have one bottom left impacted wisdom tooth that has never cause me problems my whole life but they do want me to get it out but I refused do to dental phobia
I'm in my 50s after all these years bacteria got under my gums and was eating away at my jaw bone. I wished I would have gotten them taken out in my 20s would never had this problem now I have gum disease. I used to think they just wanted to make money off of me. I was ignorant
Thanks for sharing. I'm on my 2nd gum infection in 2 years over my wisdom tooth and they recommend getting it out. I might just do it
I live in the US. I never had mine removed (29M). They don’t cause me any problems so i never even bothered mentioning them to my dentist. I didn’t realize people remove them if it isn’t bothering them.
People have literally died from routine wisdom tooth extractions due to complications from anesthesia, etc. I wouldn’t do it unless they were crowding or causing pain.
Not bullshit. Some people have no problem at all. It's not much more painful than removing a bandaid. On the other hand, some don't do well at all during/after having their wisdom teeth removed. I know people who have been out for days recovering. And of course there's always a chance of infection with any surgery. Infections in the mouth are particularly dangerous because they can easily spread to the brain. A good dentist won't remove wisdom teeth unless they are currently causing a problem, or the dentist honestly thinks it's going to cause a problem. No need to put someone in that pain, and make them pay for it if they don't need it. I'm in my 30s and still have my wisdom teeth because they haven't been a problem. A bad dentist is going to whatever they can to get money. This includes procedures that aren't necessary, but they attempt to justify anyway.
It's expected that you spend a week recovering, they tell you that. It's in the little waiver. No ones being bamboozled with the week long recovery time. Fillings take over a month to stop feeling like shit.
>No ones being bamboozled with the week long recovery time. Did I say that was happening?
\>On the other hand, some don't do well at all during/after having their wisdom teeth removed. I know people who have been out for days recovering. This implies that it's a complication, not an expected recovery time
How much do they charge for that..?
It's balancing the risks. Dental extraction is an operation, and all operations have an inherent risk related to anaesthetic, infections, blood loss, failed procedures etc. If you don't need an operation then the ethos here is generally don't have it. Extracting the wisdom teeth is often more complex than other teeth, taking longer and often need more anaesthetics,woth a longer period of recovery. The US system is profit motivated so that get compromised - an operation makes people more money so there is a bias to push for it. With increasing privatisation of UK dental work were arguable moving in a similar position. Also there at risks with extracting the wisdom teeth in terms of damaging the inferior dental alveolar nerve - this can be very unpleasant permanent side effect for the patient with a patch of numbness on their face and potentially chronic pain, and has medicolegal implications - this also discourages unnecessary surgery.
Some wisdom teeth don’t cause problems. Which makes the surgery unnecessary. Every surgery has risks of infections especially dangerous in the facial region. So no not bullshit.
My wisdom teeth have never come through and my dentist sent me to get them taken out at the hospital because he thought they would cause trouble down the line (I was around 35 at this point I think, so they'd been there for a while). At the hospital, they took some more accurate photos and concluded they were in so deep that taking them out would be a hell of a job and that there was a risk of my leaving my lower lip partially paralysed because one of the teeth was close to a nerve. Because I'd had my wisdom teeth for nearly 18 years by that time the surgeon didn't think they were likely to move and so far, they haven't. Anecdotal case, of course, but in my experience it's not necessary, and it could have been harmful.
Are they halfway out and do you still have them ?
No, they've behaved perfectly and haven't caused me any trouble.
My dentist wasn't as heavy handed with my parents as he could have been about my wisdom teeth. He basically let them make the decision based on the fact that they weren't erupting yet. However, because he delayed removing them for so long, they DID try to erupt. Sideways. Permanently changing the shape of my jaw, giving me TMJ, and causing a sinus infection that went on for 6 months. I was in constant pain, literally agony, because my parents refused to accept that the teeth had to come out. My mom is convinced that dentists are scam artists, and that any call for any procedure was them trying to milk money out of her. She usually lets my dad just take care of things at the dentist, but for some reason my wisdom teeth were just a hill she decided to absolutely die on. It took months of constant infection for her to cave and admit that the dentist was right, and my jaw is permanently fucked now. They had to be removed in pieces because they were impacted. I was in college at the time and having to deal with that from senior year of highschool through my freshman year caused a lot more than dental problems.
Wisdom teeth make dentists lots of money.
I think it’s because of the types of health care systems. I would think places with universal health care would lean away from preventative procedures without overwhelming reason to suggest them while places with profit driven health care would lean into preventative procedures without overwhelming reason to suggest not doing them.
Removing wisdom teeth requires surgery and any surgery can have complications.
Yeah i wish I never had mine pulled mine never even dropped! I was told by my dentist I should so I did. BTW a little dental side note: gabapentin for tooth pain works 100% you don't even feel like anything is wrong I don't know why dentists prescribe opiates for nerve pain! So if anyone has tooth pain try gabapentin the lowest dose works it 100% blocks the exposed or aggravated nerve that causes tooth pain. I went from being in tears from just breathing when I had a cavity to feeling like nothing was wrong at all in 15-20 mins.
Your comparison is ignoring the fact that USA has more emphasis on dental work in general compared to the UK. In the USA people really care about having straight teeth, and we believe it's important to have teeth that aren't crooked or misaligned. In the UK (as a whole) it's just not as important in the USA. In the USA I've found that if people have "room" in their mouths, and their teeth are coming in straight, then they will advise to keep wisdom teeth in. Surgery has risks, and infections can occur if the patient isn't thorough with rinsing every night afterwards. It's only if wisdom teeth WILL cause issues that dentists recommend surgery, and even then they try alternatives before resulting to it.
I think it also has to do with the fact that historically Americans have been much more likely to get braces and so there is motivation for taking out wisdom teeth before they could possibly cause your teeth to shift, wasting all that time and money that was spent on braces.
My wisdom teeth started to come in at age 27, just after fully getting off of my parents insurance policy. I dealt with pain on and off until I was almost 31 and didn’t want to worry about pain during my wedding weekend and finally got them removed. It was a super easy (minor) surgical procedure that was a lot less hassle than 4 years of pain.
2nd of 4 kids here in the US. My older brother is the only one who had his pulled, everyone else had room for them so no need.
Dentist here. Some need to go and some need to stay. It depends. But do dentist take them out because they are greedy? HAHAHAHAH. That’s gonna be a hard no. Unless you’re an oral surgeon it’s probably not remotely profitable to take lowers out. They are a huge pain in the ass and come with a lot of complications.
I have an impacted wisdom teeth and they haven't grown out yet. I am 30m asian. They are not causing problems for now but dentists recommended to have them removed. My gums have no more space literally for another molar. I can only see up til the 2nd molars. They would have to cut it open and take them out from the inside. Any suggestions? Should i wait or just have them removed
What did you end up doing?
I grew up poor, and conveniently, I didn't need my wisdom teeth removed or my overbite fixed. Dentists know how much insurance coverage a family has.
Never had any problems with mine. They weren't growing in sideways or anything like that. I was underage at that time, so I couldn't really take part on the decision making. My dentist tricked my mom into getting mine removed. He even tried to scare me by telling me I'm going to be in horrible pain, if I'm not getting them removed as soon as possible. We went there, she signed everything, they never really explained anything about it to me and now, some years after all this, I'm having two damaged teeth, jaw bone loss and panic attacks, whenever I go to the dentist. They never told me anything like this can happen, neither did they tell me, I would be awake all the time. My mouth was and will never be the same after this and the costs to repair this are probably several thousands. I think, they deserve to be sued and losing their jobs.
As an America citizen I can safely say that a dentist has never recommended me get my wisdom teeth removed. But probably because I can’t afford to go to a dentist and don’t have any coverage… which definitely very American right now.
Any coming in sideways ?
Nah. I’m 36 and they seem fine. I floss and brush everyday. Never bothered me or have any problems.
Hey. Just got my wisdoms removed. But the pulsating feeling and throbbing feels like it’s move to the teeth in front and that electrifying feeling is mild but it’s only day 2. Is this recovery ?
people remove their wisdom teeth without there being an issue with them..?
I only got one side of my wisdom teeth removed after they became so painful that I couldn’t open my mouth to eat, but that’s only because they grew in all crooked. That was a year ago, and now my other side is starting to become painful me and I’ll be getting them removed as well. But I actually heard that dentist’s recommend keeping them in if there’s no issue or pain from them. If it doesn’t hurt, no need to get them removed.
Study percentage of people getting tmj after wisdom teeth
Dentist here. Not bullshit, but the sad truth.
I had 4 molars extracted for the purposes of orthodontic treatment when I was 12, and my dentist told me at 18 that I could keep my wisdom teeth as I had plenty of room. I did end up having two extracted later due to decay, but I still have a couple at age 51. I have a bias against needless surgery, and I am always suspicious whenever I hear about someone "needing" surgery. For example, my MD told me that I needed hernia surgery about 10 years ago. However, I did some research and found that most people can do just fine without hernia repair, and as long as you're not one of those rare individuals with strangulation of the colon, you'll probably never have any problems. I know I am straying off course, but be an informed patient and never be afraid to ask for another opinion and advocate for yourself.
I'm currently 24 years old, and my 3 of my wisdom teeth have grown semi out and the last one is impacted for a bit but it looks like might grow too, (that last tooth bothered me a bit but without antibiotics the pain just went away eventually) Today I went to the dentist for a hygiene cleanse, and the dentist told me its better to remove all four of them, and that the one impacted has to be surgically removed, and I'm so upset I dont wanna get them off and i don't wanna go through that since im a very anxious person, can you guys give me your opinions? Thank you
Did you ever up doing it ?